197. Refresh Man 後菜鳥的燦爛時代 (2016) Taiwanese

Aaron Yan, Joanne Tseng, Lene Lai, Jack Li, JR (Jian Xiao Ru)

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: A+

And so ends another Aaron drama... completely ridiculously... well, it's not Fall In Love With Me bad... but it was way less good than the start of the show, when I was actually excited for it.  I think everything went down hill after they were all racist and stuff.  It was all icky after that.  They couldn't come back from that.  Not really.  It was too horrible and inappropriate, etc.  Then the show got shortened, so the plot made less sense... but it probably would have been draggy and ridiculous if it had been 20 episodes, it would have just made more sense in the pacing department maybe.  I did really love the chemistry of the main couple.  Having seen one too many bad/no chemistry couples as it is, this was very important to me.  I loved how their relationship developed both in the past and present, with those flashbacks to high school that made the present more meaningful.  I hated some of the weird cheesy stereotypes it insisted on following.  Also, why was everyone in love with that girl.  Also, way too many FILWM cameos.  We had Jack Li and Aaron, but then we also had Lance.  Tsk tsk, that's too many.  At least the Oz in this one actually did stuff and worked their butts off, on the fear of getting fired and all.  I also liked how Jack Li actually did stuff instead of just staring off into the distance.  He was a little bitca who I hated, but at least he tried.  I especially loved how out OTP made out all the time once they got together.  Good job.  But, the only thing this show had going for it was the OTP and love story, and definitely not the rest of the plot.  All the office politics stuff was boring and then they got racist- yuck- so really the show could have been 10 episodes, with just the love stuff, and it would have gotten at least an 8, but since it had all that boring and racist stuff, it is only a 4.  A mediocre show with a good OTP (despite how dense and dumb she was when it came to love) and Aaron's pretty neck.  Also, what the heck was that breaking the 4th wall at the end.  Ew, no.

Refresh Man: Falling In Love With Aaron Again

I have to say that I had my reservations about starting Refresh Man, because FILWM Syndrome.  But then I really like Joanne Tseng.  But I guess that even with the whole FILWM thing and the Instagram thing, deep down I still love Aaron, so I thought I would give it a try and see if it would make me fall in love with Aaron again.

And it has.  It is just different and fun enough to make it awesome.  It defies some of the typical stereotypes and is about more than just the romance, although that is obviously a large part of it.  It is about self-improvement and getting out of stagnation, etc.  It's also about revenge or rather making her fall in love with him.  You know, good stuff.

So, here are some things that make this show pretty great so far:

100. Love Myself... or You? 喜歡·一個人 (2014) Taiwanese

Puff Guo,  Jasper Liu, Lene Lai, Jolin Chien

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

There were times that I was ready to panic, because I was too scarred by Fall in Love With Me, and I feared that this would follow in it's footsteps... but no, it did not.  It was the normal ups and downs of a Taiwanese romcom.  If it was ever over-the-top, it was only in lighthearted cheesiness, which is this show's M.O.  But that is what made it so fun!  Especially after all of the three episodes of dramatic crap, it was so fun to watch, definitely what I needed.  Also every single man in this show is hot.  Every. single. one. of. them.  It's like you don't know where to look because they all look so good!  Ah Jie's dimples!  Swoon.  I fell for Hao Wei, the other man, and I especially loved the Chief (head chef) and loved his side romance.  So much fluffy fun!  Also, I just really appreciate Puff.  I think she's got a lot of talent.  So yes, this one is a fluffy one, but after some Tdramas that were airing at basically the same time (cough FILWM cough cough), this one was a refreshing breeze.